McAdam: Every World Series needs a villain, and Manny Machado is here to oblige

The Red Sox had their issues with Manny Machado in 2017. A year later, it seems as though all of baseball does, too.

Machado drew the ire of the Red Sox when, as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, he slid, spikes high, into Dustin Pedroia's left leg in April 2017. The Red Sox spent the rest of the series trying to clumsily exact some revenge, with a number of pitchers failing in their attempts to hit him in retribution.

The feud carried over to the Orioles next visit to Fenway, when Chris Sale threw behind Machado, drawing the infielder's ire and sending him on a memorable, profanity-laced tirade during which he revealed that he "lost all respect for that (Red Sox) organization.''

https://twitter.com/didihive/status/946935417001168896

Since then, of course, Machado was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and last week, in the middle of the NLCS, Machado was seen trying to trip or kick Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar as he crossed the first base bag.

Machado's efforts resulted in heated words with Aguilar, both benches clearing and a reported $10,000 fine by Major League Baseball.

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich later claimed it was "a dirty play by a dirty player.''

Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes echoed those comments during Media Day prior to the start of the 2018 World Series. Asked if the rest of baseball shares Yelich's sentiment, Barnes responded: "Yeah, maybe.

"Honestly, I'm not surprised about that. It just kind of seems like it's a trend," Barnes continued. "But our job is to go win a World Series. Everything aside, that's it. I think the sweetest revenge would be to win a World Series and celebrate with them watching."

For Barnes, the fact that Machado is playing in the Series and his teammate Pedroia is not, is unsettling.

"You're talking about a play in which Pedey still hasn't played since then, really," Barnes said. "When you take out a captain, a leader of a team, that's not going to sit well with anybody. It kind of is what it is. You move on. I don't see anything happening, I really don't, but it doesn't mean that we've forgotten about it."

For his part, Pedroia has refrained from calling out Machado, claiming that the infielder's slide didn't directly cause his injury, but only worsened a pre-existing condition. And of course, Pedroia famously was caught in camera explaining to Machado "it's not me, it's them,'' after Barnes threw a pitch up around Machado's head two days after the slide in question.

https://twitter.com/MikeColeNESN/status/856253737312149507

On Monday, Pedroia again walked a fine line on the issue of Machado's style of play.

"Is (Machado) a dirty player?'' said Pedroia. "I mean, I don't really have time to think about what he is or isn't. I'm pretty much trying to get back from an injury and it's taking me a long time, so to put my energy in areas that won't help me get better and back to playing, I don't have time.''

But Pedroia, who seemed to absolve Machado of causing his knee injury in the immediate aftermath of the incident, appears to have shifted his stance somewhat in the last year and a half.

"Yeah, that didn't help, I'll tell you that'' said Pedroia. "(But) it's a part of the game, man. You play second base, you sign up to turn two and guys are sliding into you and you can't see them. It happened, it's unfortunate and I'm still trying to get back from it. But it happens, man.''